Werewolf Bite
by TryDefyGravity
Summary: Elena is walking in the woods one night when she gets bit by a wolf. She experiences some side effects and tells everyone she's fine but Damon sees right through her...
1. Chapter 1

**(A/N: In this fanfic, Elena is a dancer. Just go with it!)**

**Elena's POV**

I was stupid.

Seriously, what the hell was I thinking, walking around in the woods in the middle of the night?

Oh yeah, I know why. Stefan left with Katherine.

He left with Katherine about a week ago after he cheated but the constant reminders were driving me crazy. But I didn't love him. Not now, not anymore. Damon would come to check up on me every day even though he still had Andie as his little pet. After he left my house, late at night of course, I decided to take a walk and ended up in the middle of the forest.

I hadn't cried since Jenna's funeral, which was well over four months ago. I didn't cry when Stefan left, which trust me, I wanted to. I didn't cry when Bonnie and Caroline said they'd wanted nothing to do with me. I didn't cry when I found out I had gotten accepted to Julliard but couldn't afford the tuition because I had to take care of Jeremy (but of course nobody knew about that). Do you know what it's like to go four months trying to stay strong? I wanted to cry. I wanted nothing more than to break down and just cry my heart out. But I couldn't, I had to keep it together for Jeremy's sake. I needed to be strong for him. For myself.

I felt this fear in the pit of my stomach. This fear…I knew that if I let the first tear fall I wouldn't be able to stop them from raining down. But the worst part is this shuddering thought, the thought that maybe I was too far gone. Maybe I had faced so much death and tragedy that it wasn't even a surprise anymore. Maybe I was just lost…lost to the point where I could no longer be found.

I was too wrapped up in my own selfish thoughts to hear the evil bastard behind me. But when I heard a low growl I turned around as fast as I could. I gasped when I saw it.

A wolf.

A beautiful wolf, but a wolf nonetheless. Its coffee brown fur looked warm and inviting but his amber eyes told different. They reflected darkness. They reflected evil. I shuddered. Was it because it was the middle of November or was it because I was scared? Probably both. The wolf's white razor-sharp teeth pulled up in what I thought was a smile and dropped some sort of necklace that I hadn't noticed he'd been carrying. He snarled and started to circle me like a lion would an antelope. Oh shit. Oh shit, oh shit oh shit. I knew I couldn't escape this. I contemplated taking out my phone and calling Damon but the odds of him getting bitten were huge and I figured his life would be more valuable than mine at this point. So I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to think of something to say. I mean, it _was_ a werewolf, right? Maybe the tiny human part would be able to hear me.

"I…uhm, hello?" I croaked. Hello? A wolf three times my size was about to rip my innards out and I'm saying _hello_ to it? Hmm, maybe I should ask it how it's doing too. "You're a werewolf. I know that. And I know that you're probably hungry and feel the need to kill me but-," I didn't have time to finish because it pounced on me. I could feel its weight as its paws dug into my shoulders. I tried to push against it but it weighed too much. It growled viciously and bent its head down so that its nose was centimeters from mine. I resorted to the last thing I could think of. "My v-vampire friend will rip your h-heart out if you k-kill me!" I whispered.

It made a snorting sound, implying that he could easily take Damon before biting mercilessly into my stomach. Its razor teeth sunk into my skin as if it were biting into butter. I screamed bloody murder but I knew that no one would be able to hear me considering how far I was in the woods. Oh God. I had never given much thought to how I'd die. Maybe it'd be peaceful. Maybe it'd be dying in place for a loved one. But not once had I thought I'd die by the hands of a psychopath supernatural creature. Fuck, this hurt. I was too caught up in a world of pain to realize the wolf had stopped eating me. His head was snapped up and he looked as if he were listening to something. Was it Damon? Did Damon somehow hear my pleas for help and come to save me? The wolf growled in my face before running away, leaving me on the cold, wet, and muddy forest floor with a giant gash spewing out blood on my stomach. _Fuck my life _was my last thought before I slipped into a world of darkness.

…

I slowly opened my eyes. Was I dead? Was I alive? Did someone find me? I sat up, wincing at the pain in my stomach. I had dried blood running down my stomach, all over my hands, and on my shoulder from the wolf's paws. I stood up, nearly falling but luckily grabbed on to a tree nearby to balance myself. I was a bloody, muddy mess and I quickly realized it was pouring rain. So I was soaking wet, too. Great. My phone was by a nearby tree trunk and when I bent down to grab it, I found the necklace that was in the wolf's mouth. It was a beautiful pendant, a silver carving of a werewolf's face. I swallowed the lump in my throat and put it in my pocket before checking my phone. 32 unread messages and 15 voicemails.

_Elena? Where are you? I left my jacket at your house and when I came back you weren't there. –D_

_Where the hell are you? –D_

_You're freaking me out. Tell me where you are. –D_

_Are you hurt? –D_

_God Damnit, Elena! –D_

_Listen, if you're mad at me fine but let me help you. –D_

I sighed. He was seriously worried about me. Should I call him? The wolf was probably gone by now. The time on my phone told me that I had been unconscious for about two hours, so I gathered myself and trudged home. The pain was unbearable and I had to bit my lips several tips to keep from crying out. When I finally got home I practically crawled upstairs, thanking god when I noticed Damon wasn't in my bedroom. I took a quick shower to get the mud and blood off of me before taking a look at the bite. It was huge, covering about half of my stomach. I noticed that there was something white and sharp in the wound, so I grabbed a pair of tweezers and pulled it out, slightly wincing from the pain. I held it up in front of my face and gasped.

A tooth.

It was sharp, like a knife. I carefully set it down on the counter and made sure the wound wasn't deep. I didn't want to have to explain this to the hospital. I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized it didn't reach any major organs or tissues. Wrapping gauze around my torso and throwing on a black tee, I stepped out of my bathroom and my eyes widened when I saw an angry Damon sitting on my bed with his arms crossed.

"Elena. How nice to see you. Were you gonna tell me where the hell you went or was I supposed to gather a search party?" He asked. I was so tired and drained I didn't have energy for a snarky comment so I just shrugged and put my hair in a messy bun at the base of my head before lounging against the doorframe. He crossed his arms. "Where were you?" He asked. His eyes looked dangerous.

"The woods." I said quietly with no further explanation. My expression was blank and dull, not one hint of the 'Miss Independent' attitude I always carried. Damon stood up.

"The woods? THE WOODS? Do you understand how fucking worried I was? You weren't answering any of my calls or responding to any of my texts! I was freaking the hell out, but oh Elena wanted to take a stroll in the woods at an ungodly hour at night, so all's well!" He spat. My face stayed the same and I didn't bother responding so instead I went to my door, attempting to go downstairs and get something to eat when suddenly he was in front of me, grabbing my arm. His eyes looked a lot softer. "Whoa, you don't look so good." He said with a raised eyebrow. I shrugged.

"I'm fine." I replied. Well, that wasn't a complete lie. The truth was I felt lightheaded and like I was going to pass out any minute. Damon's eyebrows knitted in confusion.

"No, you're pale as the moon, you're skin feels like it's on fire and you're lacking that attitude that I love oh so much. What's wrong with you?" He asked. I just closed my eyes for a while and eventually reopened them.

"Nothing... everything." I replied before plopping down the steps. He was right on my trail, arms crossed, eyebrow raised. He watched me as I poured bowl of cereal and sat down at the island with the same lifeless expression. I was so fucking tired and my bite hurt so badly. Damon sat across from me and lightly traced the bags under my eyes. "What time is it?" I mumbled while playing with my food. He cleared his throat.

"Five something in the morning." He replied. I nodded and stared at the cereal I'd made.

"Ugh, I can't eat anything." I explained before getting up and dumping the food. Damon just kept watching me with concerned eyes and I was tired of being stared at. I went up the steps and curled into bed. Damon sat on the edge of my bed.

"Something happened on your little 'walk' and you're not telling me." He said softly. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"Nothing happened." I said weakly. Damon took my hand.

"You can tell me anything." He whispered. I nodded and buried my head into my pillow and watched as Damon sighed in frustration and got up to sit near my window. I raised an eyebrow. He sighed. "I'm staying with you tonight, er, well today." He said. I kept my mouth shut and buried back into the pillow again.

"No snarky protest? Geez, Ellie, what the fuck happened?" He murmured. I subconsciously smiled at the nickname 'Ellie' he had given me before drifting off to sleep.

…


	2. Chapter 2

My eyes opened in fear as I felt a panging pain deep in my stomach. I sprang up from bed, thankful to see Damon asleep on the floor as I leaned over the toilet and vomited. I thought that the pain in my torso would go away after I threw up but it remained there. I washed my face and stared at myself in the mirror for a while. Was that…? Did I just see a flash of amber in my eyes? I quickly shake off the thought when I hear Damon calling my name. He was sitting on my bed, rubbing his eyes when I walked in.

"Hey. You okay?" he asked. I nodded and checked the time on my phone. It was 11:45am. Damon got up and walked to the door. "Well…I'm gonna go home. Shower and whatnot." He explained. I looked at him with tired eyes and gave him a slight nod. "I'm coming over tonight. Don't miss me too much." Damon joked with the smirked. The smirk immediately fell when I just walked over to my closet and pulled out clothes. Usually I would've rolled my eyes and smiled but for some odd reason I felt as if I couldn't. "Right, okay…see you later then I guess." He said with obvious disappointment. I watched as he walked out of my room and I listened to the click of my front door before I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. Quickly shaking the thought off, I walked in the bathroom and turned on the shower. While I was undressing I noticed that I really _was_ pale. The bags under my eyes stood out and I sighed before unwrapping the gauze from my midsection. The bite seemed to get bigger! What the hell? It was bigger and looked twice as worse. I sucked in a sharp breath when I felt a stabbing pain in my stomach. I walked over to my bathroom radio and pressed the power button. 'Higher' by Taio Cruz blasted on and I smiled a small smile before jumping in the shower. I sighed in contentment as I felt the warm water run down my aching muscles. I stayed in the shower for about ten minutes before I felt an unbearable pain in my stomach, right where the bite is. Immediately falling to the ground and clutching my stomach, I started screaming. But my screams for help were unheard due to the loud music and the shower, so I had to sit there and deal with the excruciating pain. My temples were pounding and the bite was throbbing. I wondered if this was how Rose felt. _Rose! _Oh fuck, I'm going to die, aren't I? Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck. I bit my tongue to keep the tears in my eyes and continued to shriek for what seemed like forever on the cold shower floor. Eventually the pain slowly subsided and I stood up with shaky legs. Wrapping a towel around my small frame, I stepped out of the shower and widened my eyes at what I noticed in the mirror. My eyes were amber. No, gold! Not like the little flash I had seen before, my eyes were a full amber color, just like the wolf's had been. I quickly started to hyperventilate when I saw my new lookers and struggled to catch my breath. Then, out of nowhere, they returned to the hazel brown I had before. What the fuck? Had Rose's eyes changed colors when she was bitten or was this just me? I frowned and stepped into my room, trying to distract myself as I got dressed.

I decided on a loose short sleeve grey top with a black tank top underneath. I matched it with a pair of dark wash denim jeans and then looked for a pair of shoes. I found one of my black converse but groaned in annoyance when I couldn't find the other one, so I grabbed one of my red converse and slipped it on. Damon once told me that he secretly liked it when I wore mismatching shoes. When I asked him why, he said 'Because, Ellie, it shows that you aren't afraid to be different from everybody else.' A small smile tugged at the corner of my lips. I got up and grabbed a knit slouchy hat before bobby pinning it to my straight hair. Then, something on my dresser caught my eye.

The necklace that the wolf dropped.

It was beautiful and intricate. The features were realistic, especially the look in the wolf's eyes. I unclasped the hook and put it on neck. For some odd reason, the necklace looked like it belonged on me. And I could've sworn I saw the necklace glow for a little while before setting completely into my neck. Grabbing my phone and gathering myself together, I slipped out of the front door and made my way to the grill.


	3. Chapter 3

The grill was unusually crowded today. It was still raining and there was a thunderstorm going on when I entered the restaurant. I noticed a few kids from school and waved as I tried to get myself a table. But then I spotted Damon, Andie, and Alaric sitting at a table. As if on cue Andie smiled and waved her hand, motioning me to come over. I shook my head as if to say 'I don't want to be rude', but she rolled her eyes and continued with her previous actions. I walked over to the table and Damon's eyes immediately lit up. He retracted his arm from Andie's shoulders and smiled.

"Hey, Elena." He says. I stare at him.

"Hi." I mumble as I slide in next to Alaric. Damon eyes me up and down and Andie raises an eyebrow.

"Are you okay? You look really pale." She says. I shrug and look at the menu.

"Never been better." I mutter in the same monotone voice. She shrugs it off and looks at Damon and Alaric.

"So you guys were talking about some werewolf in the town, right?" She asks. I swallow the thick lump in my throat when I hear the word 'werewolf' and bite my lip. Damon notices and looks at me.

"Yeah, some wolf attacks have been going on lately." He says. Alaric is about to comment when Matt comes over with a notepad and pen.

"Hello, I'm Matt; I'll be your server blah, blah, blah whatever. What can I get you guys?" He says in a tired tone. My heads slowly snaps up and my eyes meet his.

"They have you waiting _and_ cleaning tables?" I ask quietly. Even in his tired state, Matt's eyes light up when he sees me.

"Yep. Next thing you know they'll have me cooking the food." He jokes. I frown.

"I'm sorry." I say. Damon stares at me and I can't help but feel guilty for not telling him what happened to me. Matt snorts and playfully pushes me.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for, so shut up. Better me cooking than you. You suck at cooking, 'El." He teases. I tiredly blinked and looked at the menu.

"I can cook." I say. He raises an eyebrow.

"Name one thing." He replies.

"I make a kickass peanut butter and jelly sandwich." I mumble before putting the menu down and crossing my arms, leaning back into the booth. Matt smiles.

"Speaking of cooking, remember when we were twelve and,-" He starts but I shake my head and grimace.

"I thought we promised we would never speak of that again." I say. Andie raises an eyebrow.

"What happened when you were twelve?" She asks excitedly. I groan and Matt smirks.

"Tyler and I snuck into her house to, er, hang out. Her dad was at work and her mom had to go do something really quick, so Elena was home alone. Anyway because Tyler and I are complete assholes we thought it would be funny to scare her and make her think someone was in the house. Well, after Elena put Ramon Noodles in the microwave we decided to make our move. We moved stuff around, stole all of the phones from her house, and even wrote on the kitchen window 'You're going to die.'" He started laughing at the memory and I glared at him.

"Do you know how fucking scared I was? I thought somebody was going to slice me apart." I say.

"Finish the story!" Andie says with a smile. Matt bites back a laugh.

"Okay, well she was too occupied with what we were doing to realize she left the plastic wrap on the Ramon Noodles. The microwave practically bursted into flames and she started freaking out about _that_ too. Tyler and I decided to be nice and tell Elena it was just us. But ever since that day we tease Elena about the fact that she can't cook AT ALL. She takes after her mom on that one." Matt explains. I roll my eyes and take a deep breath. I did not feel good at all. "Alright, my boss is gonna get mad. What do you guys want?" He asked. Damon and Alaric ordered burgers while Andie ordered a salad.

"Same as Andie I guess." I say with a sigh and grab my head. Matt looks at me.

"You okay?" He asks. I nod and he hesitantly walks away. In no time our food comes. Alaric, Damon, and Andie start chatting away and I barely talk. Damon tried to get me to talk, asking what I thought about things but I would just shrug or mumble one word responses. I never ate my salad, I just pushed it around my plate and Damon defiantly noticed. Before I knew it the pain in my stomach grew stronger and stronger and I felt like I was going to throw up if I even tried to eat anything. So I stood up and pushed the plate away from me from, placing a twenty on the table.

"I'm not hungry. I'm gonna go home and…yeah, I'm going home." I muttered before grabbing my phone and stepping out of the grill, ignoring Damon's calls for me. When I got home I pulled off my shoes, jeans, shirt and tank top before putting on a pair of shorts and a black tee shirt. I practically ripped the hat out of my head, ignoring the sting of pain I felt when the bobby pins pulled on my hair. Then I curled up in a ball in bed and rocked back and forth, trying desperately to distract myself from the pain I was feeling. But every minute it got more intense instead of better. I bit my blanket to keep from screaming because I knew Jeremey was in his room. Eventually the pain got so bad I felt darkness spread across me like a sheet.


	4. Chapter 4

When I woke up I noticed that I wasn't in my own bed. I was lying on the couch, with my head in someone's lap. Whoever that someone is was running their fingers through my hair, gently massaging my temples in the process. I opened my eyes and noticed Damon was the person that held me. He looked down at me and continued with his actions even though he knew I was awake.

"What happened?" I groaned. My head was still pounding but the pain in my stomach had dulled. Damon sighed.

"I came, just like I promised. When I walked into your room you were tossing, turning, whimpering, and what not. I figured you were having a nightmare so I took you down here." He whispered. I sat up, immediately missing the contact between the two of us but sucked it up and leaned against the couch. "You feel okay?" He asked. I nodded.

"I'm fine." I said, shifting uncomfortably on the couch. Damon rolls his eyes.

"You know, I'm getting tired of hearing that. I know something happened last night, Elena. I'm not stupid. You're pale, you're having nightmares, you're barely talking, and you're not eating, which by the way is really concerning me. I mean, c'mon something happened!" He said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. I shrugged. "And even that right there! Normally you would've had some snarky protest but right now even you can't explain yourself. Please, Elena, this is driving me crazy. You need to tell me what happened because it's obviously traumatized you." He pleaded. I closed my eyes and grimaced before getting up and going to the kitchen, pouring myself a glass of water. I slowly started drinking it and Damon just leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed. After I drank the water I went to go back upstairs but he wouldn't let me pass. "You're not leaving until you tell me what happened." He said and placed a hand on my waist, right where the bite was. I cried out without thinking about it but widened my eyes once I realized my mistake. He retraced his hand as if he touched a hot metal pan but then reached for the hem of my shirt and started to pull it up. I caught his hand and pleaded him with my eyes.

"Don't." I whispered. He gently grabbed my wrist and carefully pinned me against the wall.

"Shhh, Let me see." He whispered before reaching down and pulling my shirt up, reviling the bite. It was red and throbbing, covering now half of my stomach. Damon looked at it with wide eyes and I sucked in a sharp breath because of the pain. "What the hell is this? And don't you dare say it's nothing!" He yelled. I groaned in pain and felt tears well up in my eyes.

"Werewolf bite." I whispered and hung my head in shame. Then I felt a cool hand pull my chin up to meet Damon's gaze. He looked me up and down before scooping me up and using vampire speed to go to my room. Once we were there he placed me in bed and slid in next to me before taking my hands and holding them to his chest.

"What happened?" He asked, his voice hard. I bit my lip and sighed.

"I was walking through the woods because I needed some time to think. While I was walking I saw the wolf. I tried to talk to it, tell it to stop but it pounced on me and bit me. I passed out and woke up on the forest floor with this huge gash in my stomach. Then I came home and took a shower before bandaging it. I tried to ignore the side effects but I can't anymore! My skin feels like it's on fire, I can't eat without throwing it up five minutes later, my eyes are turning this freaky ass amber color and I keep feeling these random spells of pain. The pain sometimes gets so bad that I pass out from it! I just…everything hurts and I was scared…I didn't tell you because I knew you were gonna want to hunt down the wolf and I can't risk you dying because I care about you too much and I…I…" I trailed off. Damon's eyes softened and he pulled me in his arms, rubbing my back and whispering words into my ear. "Don't cry, don't you dare cry, Elena Gilbert" I told myself. Suddenly I felt that familiar stabbing pain and groaned, clutching my stomach and burying my face into my pillow. He moved my hands from my stomach and then held me as I screamed and shrieked. His eyes looked panicked and wide.

"What do I do?" He pleaded. I screamed again.

"Make it stop! Please make it stop!" I whimpered. He just wrapped his arms around me and whispered soothing words into my ear, but it didn't help. He pulled back and grabbed my face.

"It's gonna be okay, Elena. I promise you." He whispered and kissed my forehead.I just wailed again before closing my eyes and letting the night take me away. The last thing I remember was being picked up by Damon.

….

I opened my eyes and immediately recognized that I was not in my room. Or even in my house, for that matter. I was in Damon's room. He was holding me in his bed, probably thinking I was asleep. But then I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"Good Morning." I said. He smiled softly at me.

"Morning. How do you feel?" He asked. I shrugged.

"Better. A slight headache but better for the most part." I said and got up from bed. Damon sat back lazily and looked at me. "I'm gonna take a shower." I said. He nodded.

"I grabbed some clothes for you, they're in that bag. You said you had to go the dance studio today so I took whatever looked comfortable to…er, dance in I guess." He motioned to a blue duffel bag with his head. I looked through the bag, finding black tights, a black tank top, a maroon off-the-shoulder top and my lace up ballet shoes. I nodded, giving him approval of what he picked out. "I'm gonna call Rick, ask him to bring over one of his witchy-juju research books so we can figure out what's going on with that wolf bite of yours." He explained. I nodded and walked into his bathroom, shutting the door and listening to him leave before starting the shower. The warm water calmed my tense muscles and I sighed, glad that the pain in my stomach was better. After getting out of the shower, I got dresses and dried my hair. Then I laughed to myself when I noticed Damon had hairspray before using it myself. I didn't feel like straightening my hair so I left it the natural way, wavy and crimped. Then I grabbed my ballet shoes and my phone and walked downstairs, greeting Damon and Alaric.

"Hey, Rick." I said and smiled. Rick smiled back at me and then raised an eyebrow.

"Hey. How're you feeling?" He asked. I shrugged.

"I've been better but whatever." I said, slipping on one of my ballet shoes. I propped my leg up on the table and laced them up.

"Alright…well I'm gonna go grab the books out of my car." Alaric said before getting up and walking out the door. Damon walked over to me and lifted my shirt but I caught his hand and raised an eyebrow.

"C'mon, Elena, let me see." He said. I sighed and let go of his hand. He lifted up my shirt and carefully unwrapped some of the gauze, revealing the bite. It was still red and throbbing. He grimaced when he saw it and I adverted my eyes. I didn't want to see it. After inspecting it he gently fixed the gauze and pulled my loose shirt down over it before tilting my chin to look at him.

"I'm gonna die, aren't I Damon?" I whispered. Hurt flashed in his eyes and he swallowed.

"I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen, Elena. I _will not_ lose you." He said. I nodded and pulled back. He gave me a small smile and Rick walked back in, carrying a couple books. He set them down on the couch and looked at Damon and me.

"Alright, so what's the plan?" Rick asked. I looked at my phone and checked the time.

"While I'm at the dance studio you guys do your research." I paused and they both nodded. "When I'm done I'm going home to take a shower and grab some clothes and movies." I playfully nudged Damon. "Get ready for movie night, Mr. Salvatore." I smiled at him. He smirked.

"Please, no 'Dear John' or 'Letters to Juliet'. There's only so much a man can take, you know." He whined. I snorted and raised an eyebrow.

"Aww c'mon, Damon. You know I'm not that kind of girl. I was thinking more along the lines of 'Blair Witch Project' and 'The Strangers'." I said with pushed him playfully. He just walked past me, ruffling my hair in the process and poured himself a glass of bourbon.

"That's my girl." He said with a smirk. Alaric raised an eyebrow and muttered, 'This is so weird.' I walked to the door and groaned, remembering I hadn't taken my car to the boarding house. As if he was reading my mind, Damon threw me his car keys and I smiled in thanks before heading out the door and driving to the dance Studio.


	5. Chapter 5

I smiled when I entered the Dance Studio, greeting my partner Harry with a hug. Harry and I had been dance partners since we were fourteen, and we'd clicked since the first day. He was Asian, Japanese-American to be exact, with spiky black hair. Harry was someone that loved dancing just as much as I did. I smiled again, remembering when Damon had seen me dance for the first time. His eyes had practically fallen out of his head and he told me again and again how talented I was afterwards.

"Hey, 'Lena." Harry said. I smiled at him and set my stuff down before going over to a barre and stretching my legs and doing pliés. I'd been dancing ever since I was a little girl, one year old to be exact. My main two forms of dancing were Ballet and Contemporary, just like Harry. However we were both pretty versatile dancers. Dancing was my life, my heart, my soul. It wasn't something that I took lightly and I always wanted to be a professional dancer ever since I was three years old. I also wasn't good at a lot of things, but I was amazing at dancing. After stretching my legs for about ten minutes, I went to the middle of the floor. I did a couple perfect pirouettes and then turned to Harry.

"Ready, Freddy?" I asked. He smirked and nodded before turning on the music that we we're going to do for our routine in front of the Julliard School of Preforming Arts. I had already gotten a scholarship from them but if we do well in this competition we could both receive full scholarships. We both got into our positions and began dancing as soon as the music started.

_When I see your smile, tears roll down my face_

_I can't replace…._

_But now that I'm strong I have figured out_

_How this world turns cold and it breaks through my soul_

_And I know I'll find…deep inside me, I can be the one_

_I will never let you fall; I'll stand up with you forever_

_I'll be there for you through it all_

_Even if saving you sends me to heaven_

I couldn't help but think of Damon as I did a perfect pirouette and felt Harry's hands on my hips, lifting me effortlessly in the air. Damon had always been there for me, even when nobody was. Yeah, he's yelled at me and I've screamed at him, but at the end of the day he's always been the one there for me. Whether it was about Stefan, or vampires, or just life in general.

_Seasons are changing and waves are crashing and stars are falling all for us_

_Days grow shorter and nights grow longer_

_I can show you I'll be the one_

And yeah, sometimes we bitch and we banter but sometimes he'd been more of a boyfriend to me then Stefan ever was. I did a perfect grand jeté, landing gracefully on both feet.

_You're my…you're my_

_My true love and my whole heart_

_Please don't throw that away_

'_Cause I am here…for you_

_Please don't go away and…please tell me you'll stay_

And that's when it dawned on me…I had feelings for Damon Salvatore.

_Use me as you will_

_Pull my strings just for a thrill_

_And I know I'll be okay_

_Though my skies are turning grey…_

I ended the routine with a pirouette and then smiled at Harry as we both tried to catch our breaths. He looked at me intensely and I raised an eyebrow.

"What?" I asked before taking a drink of water. He laughed at me.

"Nothing…I've just never seen you so…passionate about a dance before. The way you moved was, graceful, amazing, and brilliant!" He said with a smile. I blushed and looked at me feet, readjusting my ballet slippers. I took a deep breath and looked at Harry.

"Have you ever been in love before?" I asked. He nodded hesitantly and cocked his head to the side. "How do you…how do you _know_ when it's love?" I wondered. Harry pursed his lips and walked slowly in front of me.

"Love…love is confusing. Love is scary. Love is tragic. But love is also something that humans need to thrive on. I think love is different for all of us, Elena. No one can tell you when you're in love or not. No one can tell you how hard it is, or how amazing it is, because every love we experience is different." He paused and sat down on the floor, motioning for me to join him. "Tell me about this guy." I raised an eyebrow and he laughed. "I can see it in your eyes. C'mon, spill." He said. I bit my lip.

"Well…it's really complicated. This guy is snarky and rude and an as. He has these walls built high around him and I'm the only one who can break those walls down. Around me he's cute and loving and sweet. But what I love about him is that we can be best friends, too. We can poke eachother and tease eachother and start play-fights with eachother, something I've never been able to do with any other guy. But I'm scared. I'm scared because I feel like if I let even a little ounce of happiness in my life, my world will come crashing down and I'm not sure if I can handle that." I whispered. "This guy is known to be…sort of a womanizer and I can't be one of his little pawns. I can't be that girl, Harry." He pulled me in for a hug and it took everything I had to not break down right there and start crying. After a couple minutes I pulled away and Harry smiled.

"I think you and this boy aren't so different." He said. I raised an eyebrow.

"Is this your way of calling me an ass?" I asked. He laughed and shook his head.

"No! Think about it: you both seem pretty damaged in your own way. Plus you both have walls built up around you." He said. My eyebrows knitted in confusion.

"I don't have walls." I said. He nodded.

"Yes, you do. You're afraid to love. You're afraid to be happy so you go around pretending and faking smiles. That boy sounds like he breaks down your walls too. That's why I can't tell you if it's love, 'Lena. Nobody can. You just have to trust your heart. Listen to your heart." He smiled and starting singing obnoxiously and dramatically. "Listen to your heart…when he's calling for you! Listen to your heart…there's nothing else you can do!" We both laughed and I joined in with him. Before you knew it we were dancing around the studio.

"I know there's something in the wake of your smile!" We yell-sung. We were interrupted by his phone ringing. When he turned to take the call I snuck out of the studio and went to the bathroom. Once I got there I unwrapped the gauze and looked at the bite. It didn't look too good, and it was starting to hurt. I sighed and bit my lip before going back to the studio. Harry and I did our routine several more times. We hugged and said our goodbyes and I got in Damon's car. I didn't realize that I passed the turn for the Boarding house and in no time I found myself at the beach. I got out of the car and pulled my ballet slippers off before walking along the water, feeling the soft sand in between my toes. The stars twinkled above and I smiled.

"Hey, mom and dad." I whispered. "It's funny. How you never wanted this life for me. Never wanted me to know about vampires and werewolves and yet here I am, stuck in the middle of it all. Ironic, right? I got a scholarship to Julliard…you know, the school I always wanted to go to? Too bad you're not here anymore, I can't afford it." I sighed and looked down at my feet. "I miss you. I miss you so much it hurts. You know some girl called me 'little orphan Annie' in school the other day? Why'd you have to leave, huh? Why? Did I do something so bad that you and Jenna had to die on me? As being with me _that_ bad?" I whisper. Pushing tears back, I gather myself together and get into the car, checking my phone.

_You coming home anytime soon? –D (8:58pm)_

_On my way now. –E (9:02pm)_

Then I started my car and turned on the radio, smiling at the song that came on.

_I will never let you fall…I'll stand up with you forever_

_I'll be there for you through it all_

_Even if saving you sends me to heaven_

**(A/N: Some Damon/Alaric scenes next chapter )**

**Ballet Terms:**

**Pirouette - Literally means to "whirl", is a controlled turn on one leg, starting with one or both legs in **_**plié**_** and rising onto **_**demi-pointe**_** (usually for men) or **_**pointe**_** (usually for women)**

**Grand ****jeté - A long horizontal jump, starting from one leg and landing on the other. Known as a split in the air.**

**Plié - Literally "bent". A smooth and continuous bending of the knees.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's POV**

Damon and Alaric sat in the parlor, going through book after book trying to find some information about this werewolf bite. So far they'd found nothing on humans, and Damon was secretly becoming more and more frustrated with himself. He should've been more careful with Elena, more understanding. Here she was, practically dying from a werewolf bite, and there he was, sipping bourbon on the couch. He couldn't lose Elena. He _would not_ lose Elena.

"Found something!" Alaric said, picking up the book to get a closer look. He used his pointer finger to follow along with the text while he read. "Werewolf bites on humans are extremely rare, but when they do occur, the symptoms are similar to those of a vampire's." Alaric swallowed the lump in his throat and looked at Damon, who was seething. Alaric continued on. "However, the victim will not die as a result. They will experience waves of unbearable pain, mood swings, appetite lose, headaches, drastic temperature change, muscle aches, sleep loss, nausea, etc." Damon crossed his arms and grimaced.

"Okay…so she's not going to die but she's going to experience unbearable pain? What the hell?" He asked, obviously pissed off. "I'd snap her neck myself before allowing her to feel all of that for the rest of her life." He narrowed his icy blue eyes. Alaric sighed.

"Hold on, there's more: When a human is bit, the pain from the bite itself will most likely drive the victim mad, just like that of a vampire's. Only this time the victims' motives will be different. When a human is bitten by a werewolf, they will be driven to the point of murder. Once the victim murders another human, the curse is triggered and the victim becomes a full werewolf." Alaric says. Damon's eyes widen.

"You mean she's going to become a werewolf?" Damon asks. Alaric rereads the paragraph again and nods hesitantly before looking at Damon, who was not happy.

"Whoa, calm down man. This stuff isn't always right you know." Alaric says, trying to calm Damon down but it doesn't do anything.

"I am going to find the stupid dog that did this to Elena and I'm going to rip their throat out." He hisses. Alaric raises and eyebrow.

"Hey, at least she's not going to die." He pointed out. Damon rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, but Elena is _not_ going to kill somebody…" Damon spat. Alaric got up and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Go to Duke. They'll have a ton more about this and who knows, this could be bullshit. I promise I'll help you keep Elena alive. But you have to promise something in return." Alaric says. Damon raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms. "Elena is a sweet girl. She's been hurt too many times, Damon. Do not hurt her again." He said. Damon scoffed.

"When have I hurt Elena?" Damon asked with fake-surprise in his voice. Alaric narrows his eyes.

"Well, let's see: You killed her brother, you slept with and turned her birth mother, which by the way was my wife, you forced her to drink your blood, you locked her in her own house, you turned Vicky, you left her in the tomb while trying to get Katherine…" Alaric trailed off and raised his eyebrows.

"Okay, okay I get it." Damon says, wincing at the memories.

"Look, I know you're in love with her but-," Alaric gets cut off by Damon's fake-bewildered expression.

"I'm not in love with anybody." Damon says with a nervous laugh. Alaric rolls his eyes.

"Please, you're totally whipped. Even a blind man can see you love her." He says. Damon sighs because he knows Rick is right. "If it means anything, I think she has feelings for you."

"What? Elena only sees me as a friend, Rick." Damon tells his friend. Alaric chuckles.

"Please, Damon. I'm a high school teacher. I've seen that love-struck look before." He says before gathering his things and walking to the front door. "Remember what I said." With that, he leaves the boarding house. Damon sighs in frustration before pouring himself a glass of bourbon and sitting on the couch, waiting for Elena. He checks his phone for the time and finds himself worrying about her. Not too long after, Elena comes strolling in the boarding house.

"Hey." She murmurs as she collapses on the couch next to Damon. He smiles at her and wraps an arm around her, pulling her close to him. It was never awkward when Damon did things like this with Elena. They both welcomed each other's sweet gestures instead of cringing away.

"You feel alright?" He asks. She nods into his shoulder.

"I'm fine." She whispers. He clenches his jaw; he knows Elena isn't really fine. "Did you find anything?" She asked. Damon didn't like lying to Elena, but he couldn't bring himself to break the news himself.

"No, but you and I are going to Duke tomorrow morning to research some more." He told her, gently stroking her hair.

"Mmm, road trip?" She asked. He nods and laughs.

"Yeah, only this time you won't be given me the silent treatment, I hope." He says before pulling away. He grabs his cell phone and gets up to get his bourbon. "Alright, Chinese food tonight?" He asks. Elena is about to protest when he smirks and cuts her off. "Chinese food it is." He says before ordering the food. Elena sighs and rolls her eyes, grabs her duffel bag, goes up to Damon's room and changes into a solid black tee and comfy pajama shorts. After that she clips her hair up into a high messy ponytail and removes the small amount of makeup she was wearing. She plops down the steps and grabs the DVD's out of her purse before sitting next to Damon on the couch again.

"Alright, what did you bring?" He says, taking a sip of his drink.

"Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity 1 and 2, all of the Saw movies, and The Strangers." Elena says. He cocks his head to the side, as if this was such a big decision.

"Hmm. What number Saw are we on now? Last time I came over your house we watched the fifth one I think…." He trails off and looks at Elena, who was biting her lip and looking at the movies she'd brought. Her expression was so cute he had to bite back a laugh. "Whatever you want to watch, Ellie." He says. She smiles and gets up to put "The Strangers" on while Damon got up to pay for the Chinese food.

Twenty minutes later they were both on the couch, eating their Lo Mein straight out of the carton, side by side. Damon had always loved this side of Elena; the no-makeup, hair a mess, pajama wearing, carefree side of Elena. He liked that she wasn't a dainty little flower eating a salad, much like Andie always was. Elena didn't care what anybody thought of her, or what he thought of her. Damon looked at Elena as she watched the movie. Then, he chuckled.

"What?" She asked as she shoveled a dumpling in her mouth. Damon laughs again and playfully nudges her.

"You eat like a man." He says. She raises an eyebrow as Lo Mein fell out of her mouth, causing Damon to smile.

"Wow Damon, you sure do know how to make me feel good." She said. Damon rolled his eyes.

"I didn't mean it _that_ way, Elena. It's actually kind of cute." He says. She blushes and looks at the movie while Damon fights back a smirk.

Half an hour later they have switched positions drastically. His arm is draped around her midsection, pulling her close. Her head slumped against his chest and they both smiled while watching the movie.

_**The young girl screeched in pure terror as she saw the masked man in her house. He cocked his head to the side and began walking toward her, but the victim wanted none of that. She ran through the house when suddenly she ran into another masked murderer.**_

"Wait, wait, wait. There's something I don't get about this movie. How did those masked people get into the lake house anyway?" Damon asked, his eyebrows knitting in confusion. Elena shrugged.

"I don't know, Damon. It's a movie. They probably, like, went through a window or something." She said with a small giggle. He smirked and pointed to the screen.

"Yeah, but how did they do it without making any noise?" He asked. Elena rolled her eyes and snuggles into his embrace.

"Just shut up and watch the movie, Damon." She says.

Ten minutes later she feels that all-to-familiar stabbing pain in her stomach. She gets up at smiles at Damon. "I left my phone upstairs. I'm going to text Jeremey that I'm staying here tonight." She says. He nods and watches as she climbs the stairs up to his room.

As soon as she shuts the door she starts to pace back in forth in his room, trying to ignore the deep pain in her stomach. She pulls up her shirt and stares at the bite, which was spread across her stomach like a sheet. It hurt like a bitch and in no time Elena found herself curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth, biting on her shirt to keep from screaming.

Damon can tell something's wrong. He runs up the stairs and opens the door to his room, his undead heart breaking at the scene before him. He goes over to the distraught girl and wraps his arms around her, welcoming her into his embrace. She knots her fingers into his shirt and screams, loudly.

"It hurts! Make it stop!" She whimpers. Damon plants a kiss at the base of her head and rocks her back and forth, wishing that he could do what she asked of him. But he knew that he couldn't take the pain away. So holding her was just going to have to be enough.

And to Elena, it was.

**(A/N: I watched "The Strangers" the other day with a very good friend of mine! It was very scary and I recommend it to all of you . Also, Damon/Elena road trip next chapter. Yay!)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Elena's POV**

The December air was frosty and unforgiving, lingering just outside Damon's bedroom window. I sighed, almost in contentment, before remembering the gash on my torso. I got up and took a shower before changing into darkwash skinny jeans, a grey tank top, a black V-neck tee, and black ugg boots. I leave my hair wavy down my back and grab my phone and head downstairs where Damon is on the phone with Andie. He seemed annoyed.

"Listen, Andie…No, I already told you that she's my best friend. She comes first." He says. She must've said something back to annoy him because he rolls his eyes and mutters a 'whatever' before hanging up. I stroll over to him and raise an eyebrow.

"Lady Trouble?" I ask. He raises an eyebrow and I watch as his eyes light up when he sees me.

"No, well yes. Andie's mad because I'm going with you to Duke instead of taking her to lunch." He said with a laugh. I cross my arms.

"Damon…If you already had plans then go. You shouldn't drop them because of me." I say. He takes a sip of his drink.

"Nonsense. Right now, you are more important than her." He says and gets up, moving towards the front door. He turns back to me and smirks. "Scratch that. You'll always be more important than her." He says before grabbing his keys and opening the door, leaving me in the middle of the parlor with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow. "C'mon, trouble. We need to get going if we're gonna get there any time soon." He says. I break out of my trance and walk with him to his blue Camaro. He opens the door for me like a gentlemen and I offer him a smile. He gets in the car too and in no time we're speeding down the road, out of mystic falls.

"Okay, so what exactly are we going to do?" I ask while plugging my iPod into his car.

"Well, we're going to go to Isobel's office and try to find anything we can about Werewolf bites on humans." He says. I nod and put on one of my favorite songs, 'Say what you need to say' by John Mayer. I smile as the music starts to play. Damon scoffs.

"You have an unhealthy obsession with John Mayer. We might need to have an intervention." He says and playfully pushes me. I roll my eyes.

"This is coming from the man who had a whole playlist on his iPod dedicated to Lady Gaga." I say with a raised eyebrow. He shrugs.

"She's original." He says.

"She's a freak." Elena argues.

"So are you." Damon teases. I narrow my eyes playfully.

"Well at least _John Mayer_ sings about relevant things. When's the last time you fell in love with a Demon named Judas? Or you wanted to take a ride on somebody's _disco stick?_" I ask before giggling. Damon glares at me and grips the steering wheel, but I know he's only pretending to be angry.

"Anything's better than Taylor Swift." He mutters. I laugh.

"That's probably the first correct thing that's ever come out of your mouth." I say. He raises an eyebrow.

"You strike me as the kind of girl who likes Taylor Swift." He says. I shake my head.

"God no. All of her songs are the same. They're either about some guy screwing her over or some guy she falls in love with after the first day." I point out, scrunching up my nose in the process. He laughs.

"Are you sure you don't like her because she was an item with John Mayer?" He teases. I narrow my eyes and punch him in the arm.

"No! And so what, he's hot."

"I'm hotter." He says with a shrug and does that little eye-thing that I loved/hated. "And Lady gaga is hot too. Well, when she isn't wearing a dress made out of meat." He complains with a grimace. The song on my iPod ends and 'That's What You Get' by Paramore comes on.

"Or when she doesn't enter the room in an egg?" I ask. He laughs and nods.

For a while we sit there in the car, comfortable silence floating through the air. I smiled as we pass a cemetery, cocking my head to the side in amusement. Damon notices and raises an eyebrow.

"What's got you spinning, my little ballerina?" He asks. I ignore the comment and look at my hands.

"You're going to think I'm morbid…and creepy." I say. He bites back a laugh and shrugs.

"Wouldn't be anything new, really." He pokes fun at me. I don't say anything and gaze back at the cemetery, smiling again. "Oh c'mon." He leans over to me and whispers into my ear. "I'm _really_ good at keeping secrets." I shiver at the sudden contact and sigh.

"Okay. It's just that…I find cemeteries and graveyards really…beautiful. I know that sounds-," I start, but Damon cuts me off.

"Hot. It sounds hot." He says with a shrug. I glare at him.

"I was going to say weird. I don't know what about them actually interests me…maybe it's the fact that it's got such a peaceful vibe to it, you know?"

"So you find beauty in strange things, so what? You're strange and I still think you're beautiful." He says with a smirk. I roll my eyes.

"Hmm…was that supposed to be a compliment?" I ask with a mocking tone.

"Actually, Elena, it's a compliment of the highest order."

"Well don't I feel special." I reply.

We pull up to Duke and stroll inside of Isobel's office, immediately looking through her research.

Twenty minutes later, we have our heads in books when a young girl walks into the room.

She has shoulder length blonde hair and green eyes. She smiles at us and leans against a book shelf.

"Is there any reason why you're snooping through Mrs. Flemming's research?" She asks. Damon gives her a polite smile.

"We are trying to find information about…werewolf bites on humans." He says. She gives his a suspicious look, but comes over to the both of us and picks up a book.

"I might be able to help you. I'm Jasmine, by the way." She starts to flip through a book.

"Damon." He says, introducing himself.

"Elena." I pipe up before turning back to my book. Jasmine looks up at gives me a smile, this one different from the one that she gave Damon. The way she smiled at Damon was cold, forced. But the one should gave me was warm and welcoming. I smiled back.

"So, why are you researching wolf bites anyway?" She asked, using a manicured nail to flip the page. Damon shrugs.

"Curiosity, I suppose." He says. Jasmine sets the book down and eyes him up and down for a little bit before flipping her blonde hair back and sauntering towards the door.

"I think we might have something on Wolf bites. Let me go check for you." She says. I give her a quick nod and look back at my book. Out of the corner of my eye, I see her come back in the room, stake in hand. She's about to plunge it into Damon's heart when I run over to the both of them and pick her up by her neck, slamming her into the wall. My eye widens at the sudden strength and so does hers.

"What the hell?" She chokes out. Damon speeds over to me and puts a hand on my shoulder. I turn my head to look at him and shock covers his face. I feel my eyes change from doe brown to that golden amber. He gently grabs my arms.

"Elena? Elena, honey? Calm down." He says and I understand what he means when I see my reflection in a small mirror, close to the wall were I had Jasmine pinned. My eyes were fully gold and I had small fangs on the top and bottom of my teeth. Even my nails had become a bit sharper and were threatening to poke into the girl's neck. I take a deep breath and put her on the ground before taking a step back, letting my features change back to normal. A small amount of pain hits me when my fangs, which had never happened to me before, slid back into place and my nails returned to the normal shape. I look at Jasmine, who was surprisingly sympathetic instead of scared.

"I'm sorry." I whispered. She shakes her head and takes me hand.

"Don't be. I didn't realize…" Realization strikes her face and her eyes go wide. "Oh my god, you were bitten, weren't you?" She asks. I nod and raise an eyebrow.

"You…know?" I ask. She nods and glares at Damon.

"I wasn't sure what the situation was between you and him…I thought he was compelling you." She replies before looking at me intently. "Elena, do you know what's happening to you?" She asks.

I shake my head and look from her and Damon. Jasmine takes a deep breath and looks intently at me.

"You're becoming a werewolf." She whispers.

Damon watches as Elena's face crumples and her world comes crashing down.


	8. Chapter 8

**N/O POV**

Elena's emotional strength never ceases to amaze him. She hadn't cried. She hadn't let one single tear fall. Jasmine sat with her, explaining the whole process of her having to kill somebody in order to trigger the curse and stop the pain. Damon sat there and nodded every now and then, trying to act surprised with the 'new' information.

"So…I have to kill somebody?" Elena asks. Her voice is strong and firm but her eyes are glazed over with tears she won't allow to break the surface.

"Yes. Once you do, the pain will stop. Then every full moon you'll be on four legs, howling at the moon." Jasmine explains. Her face surprisingly sympathetic, completely forgetting the unfortunate scene moments ago.

It secretly surprised Damon, how protective she'd been of him. He was about to die, about to be _staked._ And she had Jasmine pinned up against a wall not a second later. A small smirk danced across his lips and it felt good to be the brother that she'd needed for once. Then he frowned. What if he had died? Who would take care of her? He quickly shook the thought out of his head and looked at the two girls.

"I…I can't do that. I can't take somebody's life." Elena whispers. Jasmine shakes her head and takes her hand.

"Elena…I don't think you get to decide that. The wolf in you, the pain will take over and make the choice. Did you not just see what happened when you had me against the wall? You could barely control yourself!" She says. Elena shakes her head and closes her eyes. Damon can tell she's close to tears. She stands up and looks at Damon.

"I'll be in the car." She whispers before getting up and leaving. Once he's sure she out of earshot, he grabs Jasmine's arm and narrows his eyes. She hisses at him.

"Watch yourself. She's gone now, I could easily pick up that stake and shove it through your dead heart, _leech._" She spits. Damon rolls his eyes and lets go of her arm, but backs her up so she's against the wall.

"Mmm, you're being conscious before you even got a word out." He said before dipping his head low so that his mouth is near her neck. "I could drain you dry right now and nobody would even hear you scream." He whispers, letting his breath linger on her neck and smiling when he feels her shiver. She pushes his away.

"Are you compelling her?" She asks. He smirks.

"I don't believe that's any of your business."

"Damn right, it's my business. Are you compelling her? I know people, _Damon. _I'm not the only one here who believes in these kinds of things. You wanna kill me? Go ahead. That won't stop other people from tracking you and your little doggie down. They'll stake you and shoot a silver bullet through her brain." She hisses. Damon raises and eyebrow and crosses his arms. "So tell me, are you compelling her?"

"No, if you really want to know. That necklace she was wearing was filled with vervain." He says with a roll of his eyes. She scoffs and turns to leave, but he grabs her arm before she makes it out of the door. "You can threaten to kill me all you want, but stay the hell away from Elena." He growls before pushing past her and going outside to his car.

He expects to find a sobbing, broken Elena. That's actually what he wants to see. He never liked it when Elena cried, but he knew that it was much worse to let her emotions build up. What he actually found was much worse.

She was expressionless. Blank. Nothing. He slid into the front seat of his car and looked at her.

"You okay?" He asks. She looks at him and nods.

"Can we just go home?" She asks.

"Of course." He whispers. Before you know it they're speeding down the highway, back into Mystic Falls.

**Elena's POV:**

I could feel my temples pounding. My eyes rolling to the back of my head. I silently groaned and looked out the window, trying to block out the world for a few seconds. Suddenly I feel queasiness ride up my throat. I weakly roll my head toward Damon.

"Damon…I don't feel so good." I murmur. He stops the car with concern swimming in his eyes. As soon as the car stops I open the door handle, run to the side of the road, and vomit all over the grass next to the concrete. He grimaces at first but he's next to me not a second later holding my hair. After I puke up the contents of my stomach, I grab my purse and pull out my emergency toothbrush and toothpaste, thankful I decided to bring it along. Once I was done brushing my teeth I slipped back into his car. But he doesn't start the car right away. He looks at me for a while.

"You okay now?" He asks. I close my eyes and weakly nod. The gash on my stomach was throbbing and everything around me was becoming a blur. He started the car and began driving, never taking his eyes off of me. Finally after what seems like forever he turns his head back to the road.

My breaths become short and uneven. I can't focus on anything or anyone. With the small amount of energy I have left, I tilt my head toward the man in the car, who for some reason I couldn't remember his name or even being with him.

"I have to get back." I whisper. Although the ringing in my eyes increases by the minute I can still hear the sound of my faint, small voice. The man looks at me with what I can see hurt, pain, concern, and confusion in his eyes.

"Back where?" He asks. I close my eyes and cough.

"My house…my parents are gonna be mad. This was fun and all Matt, but we have to get back." I say.

The man's eyes contort in sadness for some reason I can't understand.

**N/O POV**

Matt. She just called him Matt. Wasn't that her ex-boyfriend? The one Blondie used to date? He shakes the thought off and takes her hand.

"We'll be home soon, I promise." He whispers, giving her hand a slight squeeze. She attempts to curl up into a ball and groans in pain.

"Damon…" She whimpers. Relief hits him when she realizes it's him, but he clenches his jaw to keep from yelling. He hated whoever did this to her.

"Just hang in there, Elena." He says. Ten minutes later he pulls up at the Boarding House. He uses vampire speed to go to Elena's side and quickly unbuckles her before scooping her up into his arms. He walks into the parlor of the Boarding house and groans in frustration when he sees a dirty blonde female sitting on the couch.

"Damon." Andie spits out before noticing he's carrying Elena in his arms. She narrows her eyes. "What the hell happened to her? Get too drunk and needed her BFF to come pick her up?" She asks. Damon's eyes harden and Elena whimpers into his shirt.

"Get out, Andie." He hisses before making a move to go upstairs. She walks in front of him and looks at Elena.

"What is so special about her? Huh? What makes her so different?" She asks. Damon huffs in annoyance but Andie continues. "Not much, obviously, since everybody leaves her. Stefan, her parents, Jenna…" Damon cuts her off by looking into her eyes and compelling her.

"You are going to get out of here. We got into a fight and broke up. Don't come back." He compels. Once she repeats what he said in a monotone voice, he carries Elena up to his room. Once he settles her into his bed he curls up next to her and allows her to clutch his leather jacket. Surprisingly, she doesn't cry.

"Who did this to me?" She asks into his shirt. He strokes her hair.

"I don't know, Elena." He whispers. But he think me might have an idea. Once she's asleep he pulls out his phone and calls Alaric.

"What?" Alaric asks.

"You need to come over soon and watch Elena." He says. He hears Alaric grumbling in the background.

"Why?"

"Tyler and I are gonna have a friendly conversation at the Grill." Damon hisses.

**(A/N: Damon gets protective of Elena next chapter :D**

**Somebody asked me if I had a song inspiration. The inspiration for this story is "Breathe Me" by Sia.)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Elena's POV**

"Listen Rick, Tyler is the only werewolf in town. It had to be him. Had to be." A voice rang. It sounded like an early twenty year-old male, and he did not sound happy. I carefully opened my eyes and caught a glimpse of the man who was holding me. He was talking on the phone, apparently to some man named 'Rick' and he was stroking my hair. I closed my eyes again and tried to block out the ringing in my ears and the pain in my stomach.

"I'm getting really mad and impatient, and I don't do mad and impatient. Just get over here, Damnit!" He said in an angry rush before shutting off the phone and throwing it carelessly to the side of the bed. Although mine were closed, I could feel his boring into my head, checking to see if I was still asleep. The man shifts his weight and starts to get off of the bed, but I knot my fingers into his shirt.

"Don't leave." I whisper coarsely. He lets out a soft sigh and squeezes me tighter before sitting back against the headboard and allowing me to snuggle into his side. Then, all the memories of the man came rushing back to me.

Damon.

I felt completely and utterly safe with Damon. Like nothing could touch me when I was in his arms.

"I'm going to rip out his heart for doing this to you." He says. I shake my head and open my eyes so that forest brown met ocean blue.

"Damon, don't you dare. He didn't know what he was doing. It's just as much my fault for walking in the woods at that time of night." I mutter. He swallows thickly and his eyes become hard.

"As stupid as you were, that didn't make it okay for him to rip out a chunk of your stomach." He defended. I sighed and leaned my head against his shoulder.

"You don't even know if it was Tyler." I whisper. Damon shrugs.

"I have a pretty good guess." He says. Downstairs we hear the front door open and from what I can assume, Rick was here. My suspicion was proven correct when he walks into Damon's room and sits on the edge of the bed.

"What do you need me to do?" He asks, crossing his arms.

"Just play the babysitter for now. I'm gonna go murder wolf boy." Damon says with a smirk.

"Damon, you can't hurt him." Alaric says, frustrated with Damon's stubborn ways.

"Relax, I won't kill him." He says, looking at Elena for a moment before swinging his gaze back to Alaric. "Not yet, at least." He jokes with a nonchalant shrug.

"Stop." I murmur in Damon's chest. He sighs and rolls his eyes but nods anyway.

"Fine. I won't kill him. But don't be surprised if he does get an ass kicking later. I'll be a good boy and_ try_ refrain from killing the dick, but don't even ask me to let him get off free." Damon hisses with clear determination in his voice. I let out a soft sigh and Alaric nods, knowing Damon won't change his mind about that. He stands up and walks toward the door.

"I'll, uhm, give you guys a minute I guess." Rick says hastily before shutting the door behind him. Once he's gone I weakly wrap my arms around Damon's torso, pulling him into a small embrace. His arms find my waist and he practically crushes me against his chest. Despite the dull pain spreading in my body, I chuckled.

"Do me a favor and don't kill anybody?" I ask. He smirks.

"Aww, but killing people is so much fun!" He playfully whines. He shifts me so that I'm lying back down on his bed before detangled my arms from his.

"I'm serious, Damon." I say sternly with a yawn. My eyes start to droop close.

"Whatever, _mom._" He jokes. Before my eyes slide shut, I see his expression turn serious.

"Call me if you need me, okay? Seriously, as much as I want to kick Tyler's face in, I'll come back." He whispers before stroking my cheek. "I'll be back soon." I feel him kiss my forehead gingerly. Then my eyelids fall over my doe orbs and I give into sleep.

**N/O POV**

Damon walked down the wooden steps fast, not bothering to grab his favorite leather jacket on his way out of his room. Alaric's head snaps up when he walks into the parlor.

"Are you sure Tyler's even at the Grill?" Rick asks. Damon shrugs and downs his glass of bourbon, enjoying the small burn it left as it slid down his throat.

"Kid spends most of his time there, anyway. If not I'll just get a dog whistle and he'll come running on all fours." Damon jokes. Alaric rolls his eyes and shakes his head, disapprovingly.

"Don't kill him." He says. Damon huffs in annoyance.

"I'm not going to rip his spleen out in front of a crowd, Saltzman. I'm a little smarter than that." He says, tipping his glass and smirking. When the teacher doesn't respond he rolls his eyes. "Oh calm down. I'm just going to have a civil conversation with him. Keep an eye on Elena." He says as he walks out of the door. Alaric scoffs.

"No, I'm going to offer her up to a pack of hungry vamps. Of course I'll keep an eye on her." He replies before shutting the door. Not twenty minutes later he hears Elena cry out from upstairs.

This was going to be a long night.

**(At the Grill, N/O POV)**

Damon walks into the busy restaurant, scanning the crowd until he found the werewolf. When he sees Tyler playing pool with what seems to be some guys from the football team, he smiles before walking over to the pool table and grabbing his arm, pulling him away from the group of drunken jocks. 

"Tyler! Nice to see you again. Last time I saw you, you left me with a gash in my wrist that hurt like a bitch." Damon says with a humorless smirk. Tyler pushes Damon's arm off of him before straightening out his leather jacket.

"Dick." He mutters under his breath. "What do you even want, anyway?"

Damon scoffs and motions to an empty table right next to them. "Please, sit." He says.

"No way. I don't have time for this." Tyler mutters before turning to retreat towards the pool table. Damon grabs his arm a second time, this time much more forceful than the last.

"I wasn't asking, _Lockwood._ In case you didn't know, tonight is not a full moon. It's not even a fair fight and you know it. So I'm going to stop with all of this polite shit, because your punk attitude is really pissing me off." Damon hisses. Tyler raises an eyebrow, but lowers himself into the seat of the table. Damon does the same.

"Okay, you've got me. So what the hell do you want?" Tyler asks, not bothering to hide the annoyed tone in his voice. Damon laughs without humor.

"Like you don't already know." He spits. Tyler just raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms. "Maybe this'll refresh your memory?" Damon asks before reaching into his pocket and taking out the werewolf necklace Elena had picked up. "Dropped this while you were ripping Elena's stomach out, did you?"

Tyler's eyes widen and his mouth opens, but nothing comes out. "Cat got your tongue?" Damon teases with anger in his voice.

"I didn't…I was in the tomb! I swear, I was locked up and everything. Is- Oh my god, Elena's not dead, is she?" Tyler asks, obviously concerned for his best friends ex-girlfriend. True, Elena and he had never been the best of friends but they'd had great times together. Damon scoffs.

"No, but she's currently screaming her lungs out because of the pain. Are you sure you didn't do it? Some girl told us that you don't really have control over what you're doing when you're a wolf." Damon says, squinting his eyes in obvious doubt.

"No man, I remember that night. I was locked up in the tomb. Besides, I've never seen that necklace in my life." Tyler explains. Damon nods hesitantly but swallows the thick lump in his throat.

"If it wasn't you…who did it? I thought you said you were the only wolf in town." He asks. Tyler shakes his head.

"I don't know." Tyler replies. Both men sit in silence, trying to think of who else could've hurt the brunette beauty. Suddenly, a bubbly blonde comes bouncing over to the table. Damon groaned.

"Hey Tyler." Caroline purrs as she strokes Tyler's arm. She glances at Damon. "Hey douchebag." She says with a smirk. He rolls his eyes.

Damon hated Caroline. Bonnie too. Ever since the day they left Elena for herself, he vowed that he would never show any type of concern for either of them.

_**Flashback: Two months ago**_

_Elena faked a smile and popped a strawberry in her mouth, watching her two friends glance nervously at eachother as if they knew something she didn't. Elena cleared her throat._

"_Something up?" She asks. Caroline looks at her with hard eyes. Bonnie crosses her arms and digs her nails into her elbow. Elena can tell something is wrong. They're mad at her._

"_Yes, something's up." Caroline hisses. Elena raises an eyebrow, she's never acted so cold towards the doe-eyed girl. Not even when she accidently lost her favorite stuffed animal, Mr. Bear, or when she spilled juice all over her pink skirt in fifth grade. Caroline looks at Bonnie and the two girls swallow. _

"_Are you guys mad at me?" Elena asks, not bothering to hide the fear in her voice. The two girls remain silent for a while and tears well up in Elena's eyes. This can't be happening. Right when she opens her mouth and goes to say something, Bonnie finally speaks up._

"_We can't be friends with you anymore!" She yells. Her eyes are furious and she immediately looks down at her lap before picking one of her fingernails. _

"_Elena, everywhere you go you carry death and sadness with you. It's bad enough you're infecting everybody else with you and your brother's depression." Caroline hisses. Elena feels like she's been hit by a ton of bricks. The two girls looked as if they felt no remorse. But, she pushes tears back despite the sting in the back of her eyes. Elena nods and hangs her head as the two girls shuffle towards the Gilbert residence door._

_"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you sad, too." She whispers. Bonnie scoffs._

"_Well, you did." Caroline spits before both girls walk out of the house, slamming the door shut in the process. Elena whimpers but doesn't cry. Instead she slides down the wall and leans against it, pulling her knees to her chest and leaning her head against them. She stays like that for hours._

_And that's how Damon finds her. Curled up on the floor with such a sad expression in her eyes it practically breaks his undead heart._

"_What happened?" He whispers as he crouches in front of her. Elena doesn't bothering looking up._

"_They left me." She replies. _

"_Who left you?" Damon asks. Elena looks at him and it takes everything not to cry right there._

"_Caroline and Bonnie." She says. Damon sighs and pulls her into his embrace._

_He hated them. _

**Back present time**

"Why Caroline, there's no need to be rude." Damon says with a smirk. Caroline rolls her eyes and scoots into the seat next to Tyler. She twirls one of her blonde curls between her pink manicured fingers.

"How's Elena doing? Still depressed?" She asks with a pout before laughing. Damon's smirk falls and he glares at her.

"You really are a bitch." He hisses. Tyler raises an eyebrow.

"Watch it, man. She's my girlfriend." Tyler says. Caroline smiles at cocks her head at Damon, who scoffs and glares at the stupid couple.

"I don't give a flying _fuck_ who she is. Tell her to stop being such a prissy bitch." Damon spits. Tyler's green eyes harden.

"You don't talk about her like that." He says. Damon rolls his eyes and gets up to leave.

"Obviously you aren't interested in helping Elena." He says. Tyler hesitates but grabs his arm before he leaves.

"Look, I'll help Elena, just…" He trails off and looks at Caroline. "Babe, why don't you go back to the table?" He pleads. Caroline is about to protest when she sees the sincerity in his eyes. She gets up and places a hand against Damon's chest.

"Fine. I was just leaving anyway. Tell Elena I said hi." She teases with a smirk. Damon pushes her hand away as if it were a disease and glares at her until she's sauntered out of sight before sitting back at the table.

"Right, so about that wolf bite…"

**Back at the Boarding house, N/O POV**

Alaric winces as Elena coughs up blood and cries out in pain. He was sitting on the side of the bed, awkwardly rubbing her back as she choked up blood and vomit into a trashcan. He feels bad for her but they both know there's nothing he can do. When she calms down and empties her stomach, she falls back on the soft bed and whimpers.

"That' it, I'm calling Damon." Alaric says as he pulls out his phone. Elena weakly grabs his hand.

"Don't. I'm fine." She whispers. He hesitantly puts his phone back and touches her forehead with the palm of his hand.

"Damnit, Elena. You're burning up. You should get some sleep." He says. She shakes her head and gives a weak smile.

"I've been trying to sleep for an hour. It's no use." She says stubbornly. Alaric sighs, he knows she's right.

"Fine." He replies. Awkward silence fills the air, but neither of them makes a move to change it.

"Talk to me." She says, finally breaking the silence and closing her eyes. He's pulled out of his thoughts and stares at her.

"What?" He asks, his eyebrows knitting in confusion. Elena coughs but keeps her eyes closed.

"Take my mind off of it for a while. Talk to me, ask me questions." She pleads. Alaric takes a deep breath and nods before climbing into the ridiculously huge bed and leaning against the headboard. He makes sure to keep a distance, keeping in mind that she was one of her students, but takes her hand anyway.

"Uhm…what's your favorite color?" Alaric asks. Elena scoffs weakly.

"Purple. That's the best you've got?" She wonders. A smile tugs at the teachers lips. Elena could make a joke even in the worst of times.

"Okay…have you ever broken any bones? When and where?"

"Broke my ankles twelve times in dancing. The left seven times and the right five. Oh, and I broke my wrist in Disneyland when I was seven. I tripped over my own feet."

They continue this for a while, him asking her questions and them laughing quietly. After a while he's convinced she fell asleep, and he starts to nod off too. That is, until he hears a bloodcurdling scream.

"It hurts! Make it stop! Please make it stop!" She shrieks. Alaric's eyes widen and he gently grasps her shoulders as she writhes in pain.

"What can I do? What can I get?" He asks. Elena whimpers and closes her eyes.

"Damon." Is all she can say. Alaric swallows the lump in his throat and he nods, getting off the bed and running over to the desk where his phone is. As he's dialing the number, he notices Damon's leather jacket draped over the chair. Rick picks it up and gives it to Elena, who immediately snuggles into the cold fabric. It somehow comforted her. The phone rang twice before Damon picked up.

"What?" Damon asks over the phone. Alaric winces at the sound of Elena screaming.

"You need to get here, _now._ Elena looks and sounds like she's about to fucking die or something." He says. There's silence at the other end of the line for a minute. Right when Alaric is about to make sure Damon's still there, he hears a voice.

"I'll be over in three minutes." Damon responds before hanging up. Alaric sighs in relief and turns around to the bed, ready to reassure that Damon would be home soon. He widens his eyes.

Elena's gone.


	10. Chapter 10

Alaric frowned as he stalked through the Salvatore hallways. He moved slowly, carefully. His brown eyes scanned every detail of the house.

"Elena?" He called out. He got no reply and felt his hands sweat and his stomach fill with fear. This was the third time he tried her name, the second minute that passed without a sound from her, the sixth time he felt cold eyes on him, even though there was no one there. Alaric closed his eyes and took a deep breath, contemplating on leaving the house. After all, it didn't seem safe anymore. He opened his eyes and gasped.

There she was.

But it wasn't _her._ It wasn't brown, doe-eyed Elena, with the light brunette hair and the kind, sweet smile. Taking her place was a _monster._ A monster with deadly amber eyes and tangled locks of dark hair and a set of the sharpest teeth he'd ever laid eyes on. His eyes trailed a bit lower and he noticed the sharp knife clenched in her fist. She was holding onto it with a death grip. He put his hands up as a sign of peace and backed away.

"Elena…it's just me. It's Alaric." He reasoned. She growled low and soft, the noise coming out rather animalistic. It didn't sound human. She didn't _look_ human. Alaric swallowed the lump in his throat and took another step back. Apparently she didn't like this, because the next thing he realized, she had him pinned to the floor, raising the knife above her head. "Elena!" He cried, pushing on her shoulder with as much force as he could muster. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. Elena grabbed his hand fast before ripping it off and throwing it across the room. With a taunting snicker, she raised the knife high above her head; ignoring his protests and easily pinning him down with her other arm, and plunged the knife down. He closed his eyes and waited for the pain.

It never came.

He reopened his eyes slowly, and, realizing her weight was now gone, sat up. From across the room he could see Damon straddle Elena and try to pin her down without much success. Her frantic movements made it difficult, and even Damon himself was surprised at the strength of the tiny girl below him.

"Elena! Calm down! It's just me, It's Damon!" He spoke loudly yet gently, hoping the soothing voice would bring her out of the dangerous trance she was in. Elena just screamed and with one quick movement, threw him off of her, sending him into the bookshelf across the room. Damon landed with a grunt on the hard floor, and when he looked up, she was gone. And the front door was open.

"Well, this is great." Damon exclaimed, slightly breathless from the events that just took place. Alaric rolled his eyes and quickly located his ring before pushing it onto his finger.

"This isn't funny, we have to find her." Alaric said harshly. Damon looked at him sarcastically.

"Of course we have to find her! What'd you think I was gonna do, put up flyers and just let the police deal with it?" He hissed. Damon quickly grabbed his leather jacket, which was on the floor and slipped it on before stalking out of the door, with an annoyed Alaric behind him.

…

Elena stumbled for the tenth time, quickly regaining her balance and keeping herself from falling onto the black asphalt. Her head was spinning, and her stomach churned. She felt as if she was going to throw up all over herself, and the only think keeping her from doing so was knowing that she probably wouldn't be able to handle the smell, considering her senses were ten times heightened. Half of her couldn't remember her name, or what she was even doing. But the other half, the stronger half, knew exactly what she was doing, where she was going. Knew exactly what she was _supposed_ to be doing…killing someone. Elena took a step forward, towards the Lockwood family mansion where there was currently some cocktail party going on. Despite herself, she was starting to feel scared and small. And more than ever, she wanted Damon.

But that all went away with one click of her brain as she witnessed somebody walked out of the large house and drive away in their car. She licked her lips and tightened her grip on the knife she forgot she was holding. Elena broke out in a sloppy sprint, tripping here and there, and with strength she didn't know she even possessed, she climbed up the side of the house and into one of the abandoned bedrooms on the third floor.

She listened closely as she stepped into the hall, her boot-clad feet clicking lightly on the hardware floor. Her head started throbbing more than ever, and she resisted the urge to scream as the wound on her midsection started to burn. While passing a door on the left side of the hallway, she heard a soft voice.

"Jason…c'mon, we have to stop. No! My mom's gonna go apeshit when she realizes we aren't at the party!" A young girl giggled, clearly not hating what "Jason" was doing to her. With a swift movement, Elena busted open the door and walked in. The girl, who Elena knew as Valerie, suddenly sat up from where her and Jason were tangled in bed. "Elena! What are you doing here? Why-" She cut herself off and stared at Elena with wide eyes. "Why do you have blood on you?"

But nothing mattered to Elena anymore. All she could feel was pain. All she could hear was a ringing in her ears. And all she could see was an opening, a way to get rid of the dread. She stepped closer to Valerie with cold eyes and pulled her teeth up in a snarl. Jason backed up against the closest wall, his eyes horror-struck and his mouth open in a silent scream. Valerie noticed the crazed look in Elena's eyes and the knife in her hand, and before she could even let out a shriek, Elena had her pinned against the wall. The young redhead whimpered and let tears fall out of her eyes. Elena just smirked. Raising the knife up again, she gave one last low growl before plunging it down into the girl's abdomen. She did it again. And again. And again. Blood splattered onto Elena's face and dripped down onto her shirt. Slowly, the pain in her midsection became less and less prominent, before fading away altogether. She felt Valerie slump into her arms, dead and lifeless. And just in that second, the door swung open. There was Damon.

Her eyes swung up to meet his, and her heart nearly broke. Most of Elena's senses were coming back at this point. She felt almost normal. Almost. She could see the pain and frustration (which was not aimed at her) in those ocean eyes. Damon took a step forward and opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it. There was nothing to say.

Just then, Alaric took that moment to stumble up the stair and run into the room. His eyes widened and fixed on Valerie before looking to Elena, whose breathing was frantic and eyes were wild. Elena dropped Valerie to the floor, the dead body making a loud _thud_ noise when it came in contact with the hard surface. She also dropped the knife, and by looking at the two men's reactions, finally became aware of what she did.

"Oh my god." She whispered. She brought her hand up to her cheek and attempted to wipe the sticky blood off before realizing that it was counterproductive and she just ended up smearing it. Elena let out a dry sob and dropped to her knees in front of the lifeless body. "I did this…I killed her…oh god." Tears leaked from her eyes and she started sobbing helplessly, covering her face with her hands. Damon swallowed the lump in his throat and stepped around Elena to Jason, who was still slumped against the wall in fear. He quickly compelled the boy to leave and forget about what happened. After Jason walked out of the room chipper as if nothing happened, he turned to Elena.

She was crying so hard that he actually worried if she was even breathing. Crouching down to her level, Damon took her hands away from her face. His breathing hitched because she still managed to look beautiful, even with tears and blood and the most tangled hair he'd ever seen. He took both of her wrists in one of his hands in a firm yet gentle grip and used his other hand to cup her chin, forcing her to look at him.

"Elena. Elena, look at me. That's it. Look at me." He spoke softly. She swung her gaze up to meet his, never stopping her sobs. He frowned and stroked the side of her face. "C'mon, I'm gonna take you home, alright?" He didn't wait for an answer as he stood back up and turned to Alaric. "I need you to take care of the body." He said. Damon ignored the shocked look on the teachers face as he turned back around and scooped Elena up into his arms as gently as possible, allowing her to move her face into his shoulder and cry. He whispered soft assurances and gave Alaric one look of understanding before leaving the house.

Alaric stood, staring at the body for god knows how long, before taking a deep breath and getting to work. He crossed the room, picked up the knife from the floor and turned it around in his hands with just one thought.

Elena was never going to be the same.


End file.
